The department of disinvestment (DoD) on Thursday appointed Citigroup Global Markets, SBI Caps, JM Financial, HSBC Capital Markets and UBS Securities as five merchant bankers for the government's 10% stake sale in the state-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).

Sources familiar with the matter, Citigroup topped the list in the financial presentation by scoring 86 followed by HSBC (84), SBI Caps (83), JM Financial (81), and UBS (80) in handling the offer for sale (OFS) of the state-owned oil and gas corporation.

According to DoD, 17 bankers – Axis Capital, Barclays, Edelweiss, IDFC, Macquaire, Merill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Standard Cahartered among others — were in the fray to conduct the OFS, which is likely to be scheduled in August-end.

The DoD will appoint the legal advisors for the auction on July 15. Amarchand Mangaldas, Khaitan & Co, ALMT Legal, Luthra & Luthra, S & R Associates Advocates, and Crawford Bayley are the law firms interested in advising the government.

The stake sale could fetch the government over R5,380 crore. The government has set FY14 disinvestment target of R40,000 crore, of which, the Centre has raised R820 crore by selling stake in MMTC and Hind Copper.